Spent last weekend in Stockholm, doing exam-work related stuff. I also took the opportunity to go and see some exhibitions. Luckily, there were no less than two at the same museum that served me a serious load of inspiration for my project. Right now at Nordiska Museet, there is a fantastic little exhibition on Swedish school sloyd. Let's just say it spoke directly to my heart :) The impression of all these little objects togehther was very special.

Upstairs there was another collection of handmade objects, the Folk Art exhibition, gathered from places all over Sweden. It was a vast mix of mittens, garments, embroidery, bed linen, furniture, tools, cutlery and... just objects. Fun, inspiring and rampantly creative!

I have a thing for cross stitch. The bigger the better. No, not really, I like them tiny too. But this one is huge. I called it "monumental embroidery" in the beginning, but that's not really what it is either. It's simply a cross stitched masonite board (measuring 161 x 122 cm). I had fun. I want to do another one. The cross stitch pattern comes from my favourite book of old Värmland samplers, and the work is part of my autumn project.

The previous post with the little red house made me long for summer. It's -17 outside now! How long will I have to wait? I'm so Swedish.

The red house in this post is not the same as the other one, it's a sorry little thing on the other side of the road from our country house. A friend of my grandmother's was born and raised there; Ethel, a textile artist. It's a very sweet little house, which I would like to repair one day. It deserves better.

Another nice thing that you can only do in the summertime is going on the little 1960's railbus in Dalsland. That was my way of transportation when I worked at a gallery last summer. Not bad at all.

You can always trust Fine Little Day for new, inspiring things. Recently stumbled across the work of Sabine Timm. Well, I'm inspired now! These pictures make me realise, somehow, what creativity means to me and why there is no end to my ideas or lust for making things all the time...

I'm gathering loads of inspirational material these days, in terms of preparing for my upcoming BFA exam project. Starts in three weeks!

And like the autumn project, my work still evolves around my "native lands"; identity, origin and our family photographs. This photograph from 1965 shows my great grandmother and friend outside the house where she grew up. I would like to find out if that house still exists. The start of my project will be a little expedition to Värmland, quite naturally.

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About

Welcome to Bergslagsgatan! I'm Klara Bothén, a Swedish textile artist/designer based in Gothenburg. Bergslagsgatan is the platform upon which all of my creative work is contained. This blog is one of many ways of documenting my work, as well as it is a kind of ever expanding moodboard. For further and more frequent updates, visit me on Instagram!